City services to take control of the situation in Ile-Alatau park

Almaty. September 6. Kazakhstan Today - Akim of Almaty, Akhmetzhan Yesimov instructed city services to take control of the situation in Ile-Alatau National Park, Kazakhstan Today reports.

As reported before, on Wednesday, September 5, mayor circled the Ile-Alatau National Park. He visually inspected the process of elimination of the fire effects on Mokhnatka mountain, the damaged areas with avalanche catchments and snow-retaining devices, where there is a threat of avalanches on the road Medeu - Shymbulak.

The head of the city also got acquainted with the snagging of the burned forest. In addition, Yesimov visually inspected the whole of the Ile-Alatau National Park and Lake № 6, the press service said.

After the flyby Akim of Almaty instructed the relevant services to take control of the situation in Ile-Alatau National Park and prepare materials for the workshop with First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic, Serik Akhmetov, whose visit is expected next week.

We recall that yesterday, at the meeting of the Government, Akim of Almaty raised the issue of the need of protection of the alpine sports complex Medeo in the avalanche situation in the Mokhnatka mountain area, where there the fire happened.

The Prime Minister Karim Massimov instructed the First Deputy Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov and the heads of the Ministry to go to Almaty.

As previously reported, restoration of the protective trays on avalanche slopes of Mokhnatka mountain requires about 750 cubic meters of wood. According to preliminary estimates, in general, the restoration work on the affected area should cost about 250 million tenge.

On August 22, late at night in Almaty, Medeu gorge on the Mokhnatka mountain the fire happened. As a result, 21 hectares of forest burned. A large number of dead trees that remain in the national park after hurricane that struck May 17, 2011 contributed to the spread of fire. As a result of the wind the trees were demolished in the area of 480 hectares. Volume of deadwood and snags in Medeo was 96 thousand cubic meters.

By the end of April this year in Medeo only 16 cubic meters of windfall timber in the area of 45.5 hectares were cleared.

Damage from the hurricane was 170 million tenge. Experts hope to restore the image of the national park, although they admit: there is a huge amount of work. There are about 50 thousand of demolished trees to remove. The restoration of the forest will take from 50 to 100 years, as the pine trees, in particular, the Tien Shan spruce, grow very slowly.

Earlier, Yesimov criticized the progress rate of the hurricane elimination in the Ile-Alatau National Park. "You delayed the resolution of this issue", the mayor said at a retreat workshop at the State Regional Park Medeu.

Head of the city was presented current information on clean-up of fallen trees.

"The local budget allocated the necessary funds - 617 million tenge, the government did not provide a single penny. Three months have already passed. There are still no regulations. We have many companies that are engaged in woodworking. They are ready to bring people and do rubble removal by themselves. But they have no clarity of how to do this work. Nobody wants to deal tomorrow with prosecutors and financial police," the mayor said.

"During this time, from more than 90 thousand cubic meters of timber felled you took out only four thousand cubic meters. At this rate, how many years are necessary to finish the job?" akim of Almaty criticized the work of the Committee for Forestry and Hunting of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan.

Leadership of the Ile-Alatau National Park assured the Mayor that all the comments will be considered and the work on restoration will be accelerated.

However, the Minister of Agriculture Asylzhan Mamytbekov made a proposal last August to leave the fallen trees on the mountain slopes.

"We have to solve the problem without fuss, with a well-designed, evidence-based technology of clearance. Worldwide windfalls are not cleared, they are retained, and nature itself resolves it by the disintegration and decay. And so the soil is not disturbed," Mamytbekov said.

It was also noted previously that the loss of forests leads to accumulation of large amounts of fuel, which significantly increases the possibility of fires and erosion on slopes.

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